I was curious, but does anyone know why it seems like there's a "high" turnover rate at churches for some of the religious heads? Granted it may just be in my area, but some churches have a new minister (or one of the leaders--as in one leaves the town, another comes from another town) every 2-5 years.

Of course, it's just a job, and people don't stay at a job (generally) forever these days, and maybe I'm just thinking from ways I was raised where you get a job, and retire from it (as in the same place).... but it just seems odd to me that there are people in a church who sometimes go from a large city to a small town over 8 hours away "because god said they needed him". To me that says "I totally screwed up at my previous place, and left to go somewhere no one knew me".

I say that about plant managers and others who have come to my town from California too, so it's not like I say that about just religious leaders.

It's just something that came up tonight when I was on facebook--I noticed that there are a few people I know identifying as "atheist" that completely shocked me (for one, almost all their friends are highly religious, and fundamentalist at that--some ministers, but some used to be in churches in this area, but now have gone). So I thought I'd ask

There are various reasons why priests and pastors might do that. Some may have wanted to spread the Word of God to more remote places, to expose people to their ideology. It's not always as pessimistic as you thought, some do indeed sincerely believe of doing good by spreading the News, which in our perspective, is like a cult leader recruiting new blood.

New places, new prospects. The reason why people migrate from one zone to another.

Welcome to science. You're gonna like it here - Phil Plait

Have you ever tried taking a comfort blanket away from a small child? - DLJ

The Catholic priest rotation is part of their game.
The Protestants are somethimes similar.
Nondenominational independent churches usually keep their pastors.
My cousin is a Baptist minister. He's been transfered three times in 15 years.

I believe the idea is to "keep it fresh".
A new preacher means new stories and there is the case of re-inventing youself bigger than life at your next stop.

"A prophet is never appreciated in his home town" - Jesus.

The old gods are dead, let's invent some new ones before something really bad happens.